Products are typically shipped to retailers in bulk by enclosing multiple individual product units in a container, such as a carton or box. For example, canned beverages may be shipped to a retailer in a carton containing twelve or more individual cans. When the products are to be sold individually, the retailer must remove the individual product units from the carton and stack them on a display, such as a shelf.
Alternatives to the traditional package-ship-unpack-display model have been developed in an effort to improve operating efficiency. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,437 issued on Apr. 12, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for dispensing and displaying products packaged in a container. Specifically, the system includes a frame having a support structure, a product display area and an opening tool. The frame may be positioned on a retailer's shelf and loaded with product simply by placing a container comprising multiple units of product onto the support structure of the frame. As the container is being placed onto the support structure, the opening tool of the frame opens the container in such a manner that product rolls from the container and down to the product display area of the frame under the force of gravity. When one product is removed from the product display area, another product from within the dispenser frame moves down to the product display area under the force of gravity.
Furthermore, multiple product dispensers may be positioned on a single display support surface, such as store shelves. For example, a plurality of dispensers may be configured in a side-by-side orientation on a shelf or similar support surface and a second plurality of dispensers may be configured in a side-by-side orientation directly above on an upper support surface. Thus it may be advantageous to optimize the space provided for the display area by maximizing the number of dispensers on a given support surface.
Despite advances already made in the field, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts directed to apparatus and systems for dispensing products initially provided in packaging containers.